Every house has its story. What's yours?

Seven years ago, when we renovated the entire bottom floor of the house, we put in a new kitchen. Being located in Sweden we made the nearly automatic choice of IKEA for all of our cabinets, shelves, doors and counters. We went with solid wood counters made of beech. We like the look and feel of having natural countertops. When I put them in, however, I didn't truly appreciate how much love and care would be required over the years in order for us to maintain their fresh look. I have now completed my fifth total sanding and oiling of the beech counters and while I see it as a labor of love, I can partially appreciated why people tend to go with laminate countertops or marble.    » read more »

We have a 10 month old poodle that has decided she likes to explore more than we would like her to explore and we have now had to build a fence with a gate to keep her in the backyard. Actually, we have been wanting to do something like this since we moved into the house, but hadn't gotten around to it until now. As luck would have it, I had just enough leftover pressure-treated lumber from my backyard deck project to cover the materials I would need for this project. I also had enough screws, cement, nails, oil, paint and hinges along with nearly enough brackets for the entire gate and fence. I had to buy 2 metal brackets, so the entire new cost for this project came out to be a tad over 2 dollars. Not bad, me thinks!    » read more »

Have you ever called a plumber to fix a basic plumbing problem and he fixes the problem in five minutes? Your problem is he still has to charge you for the service call even though with a little knowledge you could have fixed it yourself? Want to save the cost of that service call ranging from $60 to $120? Download: The Handyman's Secrets Handbook.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/mrlzlc

Following the renovation the living room we had some extra boards and paint plus with all of the tools still upstairs we decided to go ahead with giving the hallway a facelift. Initially we though a new coat of paint would do the trick, but we had one of our usual conversations that tend to result in more work. This time we came to the conclusion that it could be nice to do some of the corner frame moulding like we did in the living room but with thinner boards as the hallway is much smaller.    » read more »

The wife and I had the idea that good project to tackle this past winter was to oil the hardwood floor in the upstairs living room. Of course, to do such a thing require one (me) to remove all the furniture. Once that was sorted we had look around the room and decided the yellow/beige wallpaper wasn't our style and since we had done most of the rest of our house to our liking maybe some new wallpaper or a coat of paint would do the trick.    » read more »

Well, another Summer project is nearing completion. This time I've dug out around the portion of my house that is the most susceptible to moisture/pressure from the mountain upon which our house sits. It's a hill actually, but, for whatever strange reason, they call it a mountain.    » read more »

Just a small note to all:

Washington, D.C., April 2, 2007 – As U.S. taxpayers scramble to file their 2006 tax returns, they can ensure “happy returns” next year in the form of federal income tax credits of up to $500 by making certain energy-efficiency home improvements by December 31, 2007. Valuable federal tax credits also are available through December 2010 for purchases of hybrid-electric vehicles.    » read more »